


Send Nudes

by YouDontKnowMe14



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Falling In Love, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationship(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2020-10-25 23:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20732141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouDontKnowMe14/pseuds/YouDontKnowMe14
Summary: Sam has never tried to contact his soulmate. Why would he? Soulmates are just a play of nature, not something that seals your fate with one person only. Right? But Dean seemed so happy with his soulmate, so the concept isn't that bad after all? Maybe at least trying to get to know the other person can't be that bad?





	1. Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
I love Soulmate AUs and I guess this is my take on it. I'm still fairly new to this but I'm trying my best. I'm sorry in advance for any weird phrasing or grammatical mistakes, but English is not my native language. Try to ignore them? Also, school started for me and I don't know how often I'll get to update. Let's hope it's soon.  
Anyway, enjoy!

Sam didn’t like soulmates.

Okay, don’t misunderstand, he was totally cool with people being in love and being happy together and stuff, he just didn’t like the concept of soulmates. You were bound to one person and one person only for the rest of your life and Sam hated that. Sam liked to have a say in who he was going to spend the rest of his damn life with.

But even though he hated it, soulmates indeed existed. Whatever you wrote to your skin also appeared on your soulmate’s skin.

The first documented case of people being aware of soulmates went far back to the Ancient Greeks. There was a parchment that mentioned something that roughly translates to ‘Sharing Skin’. When Sam read about that, it made him feel kind of gross.

But those were the Greeks, let’s jump to the present day. The concept of soulmates has been really, _really _thoroughly investigated, documented, tested and all other things one could possibly think of. There were also _a lot _of books written, songs sung and poems composed, all in the honour of two people being connected through words on their skin.

As mentioned before, Sam didn’t like soulmates. He would have been very thankful to whatever entities out there if whoever his soulmate was, never wrote on their arm. Or even better, Sam would have been more thankful if he didn’t even _have _a soulmate.

As he would learn time and time again later in life, godly entities weren’t really on his side when it came to soulmates. Why? Well, we could start with the fact that the first time he found his skin marked with an image that he didn’t draw himself was at the age of four.

It was just a smiley face. A simple smiley face.

But it was drawn with a permanent marker.

John and Mary were baffled when their youngest son came to their room crying at seven in the morning because the smiley face didn’t want to disappear no matter how long he rubbed it with soap and water. It of course gradually faded, but Sam was traumatised for life.

He had gotten used to small doodles that appeared randomly and then faded after some time. He didn’t like looking at them, because he didn’t like to be reminded of his soulmate, but he would sometimes allow himself to admire them.

Although the person drew a lot on their arms (mostly grotesque patterns and flowers) they almost never wrote words. If they did, it was reminders for something, like _homework math _or _read page 37._ But one thing they never did was try to communicate. Not even a greeting and that was the one thing Sam was grateful for. If soulmate didn’t try to reach out, neither would he.

“So, um, Sam, I have something to tell you,” Sam’s older brother Dean fidgeted awkwardly at the doorway to Sam’s room. Lifting his eyes from his homework, Sam turned on his chair to look at Dean.

“What is it?” He considered asking him if it could wait so he could finish work for school but bit his tongue when he saw Dean’s serious and nervous face. Whatever Dean had to say obviously couldn’t wait. Sam motioned for Dean to sit down on the bed. He did and Sam shifted in his chair so he was facing his brother completely.

Dean was playing with his hands in his lap for a good minute before speaking.

“I met my soulmate.” Sam didn’t know how to respond to that for a second but quickly stopped being braindead. “That’s great. Awesome actually. When?”

Dean smiled and looked at Sam, but still looked nervous. “A week ago, but we have been talking for, like, four years now.” Dean shifted his gaze down again and let silence the hang.

Dean obviously wanted to say something more but was afraid to. He will, but Sam just had to give him a little nudge.

“Do you want to tell me about her?”

Dean tensed and for a second, Sam thought he said the wrong thing, but then Dean responded.

“It’s _him._” Dean kept looking down as he said that, “my soulmate is a guy.” _That’s _what he had been so nervous about? Sam was baffled for a moment before remembering that his brother was still in his room and was very anxious about his brother’s response.

“Do you want to tell me about him?” Dean finally lifted his eyes with the most relieved smile Sam has ever seen his brother wear. His green eyes glinted for a split moment and he looked like the weight of the world got lifted from his shoulders. Sam couldn’t help it and smiled back.

Turns out homework had to wait two hours more because Dean told Sam just about everything about Castiel. He told him about the first time they talked through writing on skin, how Cas helped Dean with homework sometimes, how they finally agreed to meet a week ago and how in love Dean was since. Sam didn’t think Dean was aware, but every time he mentioned Cas while talking about him, he got a special look in his eye. If Sam had to describe it, he would say that his brother was stupidly in love.

Sam listened to him without interrupting, only giving an occasional hum or nod in response. Just when the clock on Sam’s wall was nearing six o’clock, Dean stopped talking. Sam raised an eyebrow and Dean started looking uncomfortable again.

“Look, Sam, Cas has a brother and he would really like the four of us to get along.” Sam nodded and kept listening.

“He asked me if we could maybe get together and go out for lunch or something.”

Sam made a face and Dean started furiously talking. “I know you don’t really like going out and stuff, but Cas thinks it’s _really_ important and I didn’t have the heart to say no to his big blue eyes and I want him to know he’s-”

“I’ll go,” Sam cut off his brother. Dean looked at him, shocked by how quickly he agreed. “For real?” Dean looked slightly relieved, but still cautious. Sam thought about how his brother looked when he was talking about Cas and how he didn’t want to ruin that for him. “Yeah.” Dean let out a relieved sigh and stood up. Before Sam knew what was happening, Dean gripped him in a tight hug. Sam smiled to himself and returned it. If it made his brother happy, he would do anything, even go outside.

Dean left his room shortly after and left Sam to his homework.

Sam stood up and stretched. He had been sitting in the same position for three hours now, doing homework and then studying, but he was finally free. He glanced at the clock. Eight-thirty. He decided to take a shower and then read a little before going to sleep.

While he was showering, he thought about Dean and his soulmate Cas. He thought about how Dean looked so happy, so content when he was talking about Cas. He thought about the way Dean’s eyes sparkled when he said his soulmate’s name. He didn’t think Dean was even aware of it.

For the first time in years, Sam thought that soulmates weren’t such a bad thing after all if they brought so much happiness. He then thought if he was ever to be as happy as Dean was with his soulmate.

After showering he went back to his room but didn’t flop onto the bed to read as he promised to himself he would, but instead sat down at his desk. “This is a big mistake,” he muttered to himself as he took a pen into his hands and started fiddling with it. He then remembered the look on Dean’s face and clicked the pen.

‘But if a mistake brings so much happiness, maybe it’s worth it,’ he thought as he brought the tip of the pen to an empty patch on his skin and wrote a simple _hello._ It wasn’t anything big, nothing too intrusive, just a greeting. Now he waits for a response.

He looked out of the window and wondered what his soulmate was like. They obviously liked to draw and were good at it too. But that said nothing about their personality or how mad they got when Wi-Fi wasn’t working. What if they were actually some asshole that didn’t like books and had no idea what personal hygiene meant? Sam just couldn’t know.

Damn it. He was getting anxious.

He realised he had been staring out of the window for quite some time. He found himself yawning and decided it was time for bed. Before he did, he glanced at his arm to see if there was a response and stared when he saw what was written bellow his _hello_.

_SEND NUDES_

Somehow, Sam was shocked, but not surprised at the same time. He stared at the fluorescent yellow letters in disbelief for a few minutes before deciding he was too tired to deal with this crap and went to bed.

‘Soulmates are a stupid play of nature, aren’t they,” he thought just before drifting to sleep.


	2. First Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
Chapter 2, here we go! First of all, thank you for the kudos and second of all, I wrote this instead of studying and I don't regret a thing. Again, I did my best to make this as grammatically correct as I could, but don't be surprised if you find some mistakes as you read.  
Enjoy!

“Dean, please stop worrying about everything, it’s going to be fine,” Sam told his brother for the billionth time this hour. It was a week after Sam tried contacting his soulmate and they were about to go out and meet Castiel and his brother. It was May, but it was extremely cold, so they both had to dig up their warm jackets.

“Sam, do you have the wallet,” Dean asked again. Sam rolled his eyes and pointed to Dean’s pocket. “Right, I’m the one who has it.” He gave Sam a nervous smile. “I’m sorry for being such a wreck, I’m just really anxious. You know, Cas wants our families to get along and he wants you and his brother to be initiators for everything-”

Sam stopped him. “I know, you told me. I swear to god, you should be the one comforting me since I’m the one sacrificing myself by going outside.”

Dean laughed at that and ruffled Sam’s hair. He made a face but didn’t smack his brother’s hand away. “Well then, shall we go?”

* * *

They were supposed to meet at one o’clock in front of a small restaurant and here were the Winchester brothers, cold to their very bones because the Novak brothers were late. Sam suggested that they wait inside the restaurant, but Dean insisted that they had to wait out in the cold. Sam was already regretting going outside of his safe home.

“Dean, we’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes, can we please go inside,” Sam pleaded, but Dean shook his head and murmured something about Cas saying they’ll be there in a minute. Sam rubbed his hands together again in a futile attempt to warm himself up.

Strangely, exactly one minute later, two figures started approaching Sam and Dean and judging by the latter’s face, one of them was Castiel and the other was his brother. As they got closer, Sam observed them more closely.

The taller one had black hair and blue eyes and was wearing a trench coat, while the smaller one wore a leather jacket (in this cold???) and had brown eyes. His hair was a light brown colour, but longer than his brother’s.

The one with the trench coat practically flew towards them and enveloped Dean in a hug while his brother slowly walked over.

“Sooooooooo, when you guys feel like it, we could introduce ourselves,” the Not-Castiel said. Castiel blushed slightly and let go of Dean, who was still grinning like a fool. “Right, we probably should. Dean, this is my older brother Gabriel,” Castiel stopped talking and turned to his brother, “Gabriel, this is my boyfriend, Dean.” They shook hands and exchanged hellos.

“And Cas, this is my little brother Sam.” Sam smiled awkwardly at Castiel but didn’t offer to shake hands.

Before anyone could start noticing the awkward silence, Castiel spoke. “Let’s go inside? You guys must be freezing.” Sam was never more thankful to anyone in his life. “Nah, don’t worry about it, we’ve only been waiting for a few minutes.” Sam glared at his brother’s back which didn’t go unnoticed by Gabriel who chuckled.

“Well, we wouldn’t have been late if a certain _someone _remembered that we were going out and planned their outfit in advance,” Castiel looked over his shoulder at Gabriel, who just shrugged as if saying _watchu gonna do about it?_

They picked a table and sat down. Dean and Castiel picked the seats opposite each other and Sam sat down next to Dean. Gabriel was left with the seat next to Castiel and opposite Sam. He smiled when Sam looked at him.

Sam settled for hiding behind the menu for now. He really hated social situations and especially didn’t like meeting new people. At least his brother was there.

“You guys ever ate here before?” asked Gabriel as they were picking what they were going to eat. Dean and Castiel glanced at each other and nodded. “Actually, this is where we first met,” said Dean. Sam looked at Dean and lifted his eyebrows. His brother didn’t tell him that they were going to a restaurant where his soulmate and he met.

“Cool, you have anything to recommend?” Gabriel asked Dean. He nodded and pointed at Gabriel’s menu. “This is pretty good.” Gabriel smiled. “Then I’ll have that.”

They ordered and started small talk. Sam, being the socially awkward potato, only participated partially. He answered questions with short answers, but never started any themes or, god forbid, asked someone a question. But this was okay.

“Cassie told me that you two have been communicating for a long time now,” Gabriel told Dean, who nodded. “Yeah, we started talking about four years ago. Well, I guess you can’t count that as talking since we wrote on our skin and stuff… But who cares, really.” Castiel chuckled and Dean smiled.

“Four years, that’s impressive. And you only met just now?”

“I don’t know how it happened, honestly. It just did.” Dean looked at Castiel and smiled. Castiel smiled back.

“What about you, Gabriel? Did you ever try to contact your soulmate?” Dean asked curiously.

“It’s Gabe. And no, I didn’t. If he has no interest in talking to me, then I won’t try to force it.” He shrugged.

Dean raised his eyebrows. “So you’ve never talked-”

Before he could finish, Sam cut in, not even thinking. “How do you know your soulmate’s a _he_? She could be a girl.” Why did he even ask that?

“Because I am disturbingly gay and would be very disappointed if my soulmate turned out to be a girl,” he said wearing a self-satisfied grin. Sam tried very hard not to let his jaw drop. He knew some people that were open, but not _this_ open. Well, not like Sam was one to judge. He had no idea what he was himself – at least this person had it figured out.

Castiel face-palmed. “I’m sorry if he made you uncomfortable, but this is how he is all the time.” He looked at Sam with an apologetic face. Sam waved him off. “That’s all right. My best friend is also out.” Dean coughed and redirected his attention back to Gabriel. “You never talked to your soulmate then?”

“I did actually, but I think I blew it,” he said as he scratched his nape.

Castiel looked at his brother with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t tell me that. What happened?” Gabriel laughed awkwardly and continued.

“I didn’t tell you ‘cus it’s embarrassing and I’m not proud of it, really. About a week ago my soulmate tried reaching out. He wrote _hello_ and I thought ‘Hell yes, finally.’” Sam’s forehead scrunched up in thought. _Hello_? That sounded awfully familiar. But it couldn’t be, could it? Before he had any chance of thinking further, Gabriel continued.

“But it was kinda late and I was pretty tired and couldn’t think of a proper response. Now that I think about it, if I just wrote _hello _back or waited ‘till tomorrow, we would actually start talking properly, but whatever. But I decided to be stupid and took the most fluorescent yellow marker I could find and wrote _send nudes_. He hasn’t tried to contact me since.”

_Send nudes. _That was even more awfully familiar. ‘This is my soulmate,’ Sam realised with a shock. He must have been staring at Gabriel like an idiot because he gave him a wobbly smile. “I know, I know. It was a crappy thing to do and I probably ruined my chances.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur and Sam found himself lying in his bed at 10 p.m., unable to sleep. He found his soulmate. He found him. But what now? Gabriel obviously didn’t know yet and Sam would prefer to keep it that way. Gabriel just didn’t seem like the type to be Sam’s soulmate. He was very out there, smiled more than breathing and had absolutely no verbal filter. The complete opposite of Sam. Them being soulmates just didn’t make sense.

‘For now,’ he decided, ‘it’s probably best if I just stay away.’


	3. Camping Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
Sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, it's just that school has started for me and it's taking a lot out of me. But I had vacation now so I had the time and energy to write. And to make it up to you, I have wrote two chapters! The first one is a bit shorter, but the second one is waaaaay longer then what I normally write. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!   
Chapter 4 will be up shortly.  
Btw, I know how basic a camping trip is for fanfictions, but I have no idea how else I could make the plot go forward. Sorry?

May ended in a blink of an eye, finals came and went and summer was here before Sam knew it. Dean, Cas, Gabriel and Sam were supposed to meet again in the past month, but Sam always refused, saying he had to study. Dean tried pushing but knew Sam was unrelenting when it came to school and grades. But now school was over and Sam ran out of excuses.

“I’m not going and that’s final,” he told Dean with a scowl on his face. His brother was trying to convince him to go on a camping trip with some friends. Sam hated the outdoors almost as much as he hated people, but that wasn’t the biggest issue because ‘friends’ included Gabriel. And there was no way in hell that Sam was about to spend a week with his soulmate while hiding the fact that they were soulmates. So he wasn’t going.

“C’mon, Sam, it won’t be as bad as you think,” Dean argued, “and besides, Charlie and I are also gonna be there.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to be with Castiel all the time anyway and Charlie will befriend everyone as soon as she gets there. The rest are strangers!”

“Not _everyone_. You know Gabriel and he’ll be there.”

Sam froze. ‘He’s _especially_ the reason I don’t want to go,’ he thought. “I’m done with this conversation,” he muttered instead and turned around to leave the room. Dean let him.

Sam was sitting on his bed and reading a book when his phone chimed, indicating that he got a message. It was from Charlie, his best friend aka the only person outside of his family who ever texted him.

**Charlie B**: Hy bitch

**Me**: Hello to you too

**Charlie B**: Heard u dont wanna go to that camping trip

**Charlie B**: Unacceptable

**Charlie B**: Hold that thought im calling u

Before Sam could do literally anything, his phone’s screen was taken by Charlie’s name. He let out a loud sigh before answering.

“Yes?”

_“Listen there, I’m dragging you there if it’s the last thing I do-”_ Sam knew she wanted to continue, but stopped her.

“I’m telling you now like I told Dean; I’m not going.”

Charlie paused. He knew she wanted to scold him for a good fifteen minutes before he was guilty enough to agree to the stupid camping trip. But he just wasn’t having it.

_“Why do you really not want to go, Sam?” _Her voice was calm but had a wind of worry behind it.

Sam buried a hand in his hair. “You know how I am with new people. I’ll probably be too scared to say anything and I’ll look like a creep. Or they’ll think I’m boring. And don’t even try to say that you’ll be there, because I know you’ll hang out with the others. You have always been better at connecting with people.” Moments of silence passed.

_“You, Sam Winchester, are the smartest and funniest guy I have ever had the pleasure to talk to. Your mind goes to places I never even knew existed and I sometimes think you’re too precious for this world. If assholes out there can’t bother to get to know you just because you don’t start talking mindlessly when you just met someone, they don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as you. Sure, maybe you can’t speak up sometimes and you would rather read than go out, but you also listen to me bitch for hours on end and still be interested. If people don’t see how truly special your friendship is, they don’t deserve you.”_ She took a deep breath and waited for Sam’s response.

Sam was speechless. Charlie meant the world to him and all this coming from her mouth made him feel … warm. He forgot about Dean, Gabriel and the rest of the world because all that mattered at this moment was Charlie, his best friend. The one who always believed in him and if she believed he could go to this camping trip and not die from social interaction, then he could do it. Because Charlie believed in him.

He must’ve been silent for too long because Charlie got nervous. _“But, you know, you can always just sit in the tent all day and read if-”_

“I’ll go.”

Charlie stopped talking abruptly and Sam could basically see her mouth hanging open.

_“Really?” _

“Yes, really.”

Why was everyone so surprised when he agreed to things?

_“Fuck yes! I thought this was going to take longer, but I’m not complaining,”_ she said, clearly happy. Sam laughed and heard her laugh too.

_“Crap, my parents are calling me, gotta go.” _

“Bye, Charlie,” said Sam as she hung up.

Sam leaned his hand against the wall and closed his eyes. He loved this girl, but what the hell did he get himself into?


	4. Socialising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the chapter I promised. I feel like I should apologize for writing Gabe out of his character and for the sharing a tent clique. I'm doing my best I swear.

_Living easy, living free_ _  
Season ticket on a one-way ride_

Sam bitch-faced at Dean. “Does it _have_ to be so loud?” His brother, of course, was too busy singing along loudly to even notice Sam’s eye roll.

‘Why did I agree to this again,’ he asked his brain.

‘Because your best friend knows how to manipulate you,’ his brain answered.

Right.

_I'm on the highway to hell_ _  
On the highway to hell_

‘This is very accurate, actually,’ he thought as he did his best to ignore his brother’s awful singing. He still loved the song through.

Through he detested the idea of spending a week in the company of exclusively strangers and trees, he wasn’t sorry for going. Besides, he had a stack of books with him if times got desperate.

He kept his gaze on the surrounding land. In time, the city disappeared and Sam found himself overwhelmed by the purity of nature. At home, he barely had time for anything other than school and when he did, he read. It was easy to forget how calming the outside of the city was.

Sam closed his eyes. He remembered the road trips he and his family went on when he was younger. His mom, Mary, had always been unconfined and free. Once, she told him that she felt like she had wings and could fly away. Sam at the time didn’t understand what she meant by that, but at this moment, he felt closer to grasping the ‘free’ his mom was referring to.

_“It also feels like love,”_ she told him when he wouldn’t stop asking her to explain her words.

_“But what does love feel like?” She smiled and her eyes twinkled._

_“Like you can do anything as long as they’re with you. It’s like you can finally breathe.”_

“Wake up, we’re here.”

Sam’s smile turned to a scowl in a second. “I wasn’t asleep.”

“Yea, sure, whatever you say. Now come on, help me bring all the stuff to the camp,” Dean said and opened the trunk. Sam got out of the car to help him.

The camping site was a clearing surrounded by the forest. It was around noon, so the sun was still shining brightly and the clearing provided no shade. It was going to be a hot week.

Sam and Dean were the first ones there (clearly) and while Dean called the others to ask them when they were coming, Sam started setting up his tent. They only had one tent at home, but Dean let Sam take it since he was staying in the tent with Cas. And Sam would rather not share his tent with anyone, not even his brother.

It didn’t take him long to set it up and by the time he did, three people arrived, two girls and a boy. Dean was already chatting them up and Sam just kind of awkwardly retreated to his newly set up tent. If he wasn’t ready to meet new people, he could always unpack.

He didn’t have much stuff, only a few clothes and some books. Okay, maybe he had more books than clothes. I think we’ve already established that Sam likes to read.

Just as he was done, the entrance to his tent opened for a second time. This time though, it was Charlie, looking at Sam accusingly.

“You,” she pointed at him, “I’ve heard that you have not left this tent ever since setting it up. Unforgivable, we are going outside this instant.” She huffed and Sam sighed then smiled. “It’s nice to see you too,” he said wearing a genuine smile. Charlie tried glaring at him before giving up and sitting down opposite of him.

“C’mon Sam, you came here to do stuff not just sit around in the tent the whole day,” she whined.

“I was just about to go outside, I just wanted to finish unpacking first,” he answered while looking at her with a smile. She looked at him like he just grew a nipple on his forehead. “Really?” She asked with doubt. Sam scratched the back of his neck and looked down. “Well, not really, but I am now.” Charlie sighed and shrugged. Then her eyes lit up. “Let’s go then, I gotta introduce you to everyone!”

She beamed with energy and took Sam by the arms. She started pulling him out and he followed her, laughing at the pure ridiculousness of the situation. They somehow managed to get out and when they did, Sam felt a lot better. Charlie was with him after all, she could socialise for him if that was needed.

Since Sam made a tactical retreatment to the tent, nobody new came. The trio that arrived earlier was setting up their tents (and struggling a bit) and Dean was talking on his phone.

Charlie practically dragged him towards the two girls and a boy who were laughing at something the boy had said.

“Hey y’all, this is Sam,” Charlie announced loudly. They all looked at him and Sam suddenly got nervous. The first one to introduce herself was a blond girl who had a grey shirt with the Smurfs on it. “Hi, I’m Jess, nice to meet you!” She said with a smile on her face.

“Jo,” was simply what the other, also blond, girl said. She didn’t smile through and Sam fidgeted.

“Do excuse this fine lady’s rude manners, it’s been a while since she left her house and talked to actual human beings.” Jo glared at him, but he paid her no mind. “The name’s Ash, by the way.” The others looked at him expectantly and Sam now felt pressured to reply. “It’s, um, nice to meet you too.” Jess smiled like she had experience with socially awkward people and Ash and Jo turned back to their tents.

Charlie chose this moment to make conversation. She effortlessly slipped into the company and started helping Jess with the tent. In just a few short minutes, she was already laughing along and Sam suddenly felt like an impostor, just standing there doing nothing, not even talking. So he returned to his tent again.

It was afternoon when Gabriel and Castiel finally arrived. Turns out they got stuck in traffic and had to wait quite a long time to get to the camping site.

Sam tried to not panic. ‘It’s fine,’ he told himself, ‘_he _doesn’t know that we’re soulmates, it’s _fine_.’ He must’ve been wearing an expression because Jess noticed something wasn’t right.

“You okay, Sam? You look like you’re about to die.”

‘Well, I just might. If gods decide to spare me the embarrassment,’ he thought, but just shrugged. Jess looked at him like she didn’t believe him but dropped the subject. Sam was grateful.

For some strange reason, Jess decided that Sam was someone worth talking to when she entered his tent about an hour ago. She was nice and talked even if Sam rarely did and he was starting to warm up to her. She didn’t push subjects he was obviously uncomfortable with and let him be awkward all he wanted. That’s how they ended up sitting outside Sam’s tent with Charlie and talking.

Maybe this week wasn’t going to be that bad after all.

“Oh look, you’ve already set the tent up,” said Gabriel to Sam as he approached the three of them.

Sam eyed him and nodded.

“That’s great! Now I won’t have to struggle. I’m probably really bad at setting up tents. I’ve never done it in my life.” His eyes shone as he smiled. Then he walked into Sam’s tent.

_What?_

Sam was _very_ confused. He was staring at the entrance like it suddenly turned a fluorescent green. And then his gaze shifted towards his brother. Dean noticed that and turned and very subtly pretended his brother wasn’t staring daggers at him.

“Excuse me,” was all Sam said before standing up. He walked over to Dean.

“Did you do this?” He asked. Dean decided to play dumb.

“Do what?”

“That,” Sam pointed to his tent. Dean finally looked apologetic and sighed. “Cas asked me if it was okay if you shared a tent with his brother.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

Dean looked even more apologetic. And a bit sad. “Then you wouldn’t want to go for sure. I’m really, _really_ sorry, but Cas-” he cut himself off, “- Cas and I want you two to get along. You’re family.”

Dean rarely used puppy dog eyes but when he did, it was serious. That was probably the only reason why Sam didn’t push. ‘Besides, it’s _fine, _it’s only my soulmate who I’ll be stuck in a tent in for a week. It’s fine,’ he thought.

“It’s okay. I understand, it means a lot to you. And Castiel,” Sam said and smiled. Dean looked relieved and smiled like nothing else mattered. “Oh thank god,” he muttered. Sam snorted.

“Sooooooo, I moved your stuff to the right.” Gabriel was in the tent for only about five minutes and Sam seriously considered just sleeping outside. But then Dean would be disappointed. And it was probably going to rain sooner or later. The tent was probably the better option.

“I have a lot of stuff, I hope you don’t mind,” said Gabriel. Sam didn’t worry about that. How much stuff could one possibly take on one camping trip?

When people tell you something about them, always believe them. Because, _oh my god, how???_

Gabriel apparently robbed a toy store before coming, because there were plush toys _everywhere._ Yeah, even on Sam’s side of the tent. He would maybe even find it cute, if his mind wasn’t busy making a dozen excuses why he had to go home.

‘Calm down,’ he told himself, ‘you can handle _plushies_, for the love of God.’ Only that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Gabriel kept crossing the invisible line Sam drew. And most of the time it wasn’t even really his fault.

After an awkward silence that only seemed to affect Sam, he decided to go outside. Not that Gabriel noticed; he was too busy setting up twenty blankets.

Outside, he found Ash digging a hole somewhere in the middle of the camp, presumably for the camping fire. Sam wasn’t good at conversation, but no one else was outside, so he reluctantly walked over.

“Is that even allowed? We’re in the middle of a forest.” Sam said. Of course his socially awkward ass started a conversation only with the weirdest lines in the book.

Ash didn’t seem bothered though. “Setting up a fire, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

Ash stopped digging and looked at Sam. “This is America. Everything’s allowed.”

“Right.” Sam felt horrible for asking that. Ash probably thought he was weird now. Great job, Sam.

Just when he was ready to walk away, Ash started talking. “It was really hard to drag Jo here. She’s been having it rough for the past few months. She barely goes outside anymore. Maybe this could help her, you know.” Sam didn’t know what to say. Why exactly was Ash telling him this?

He stopped digging again and looked Sam in the eye. “You look like you’ve been dragged here too. By your brother I assume?”

Sam scratched the back of his neck. “It was him and my best friend actually.”

“You mean Charlie, the redhead?”

Sam nodded.

“You know, you and Jo are really similar in that way. I have barely seen her go outside for a while now and you look like you stay in your room unless absolutely necessary. And she’s always been bad at making conversation, ever since we were little. But you know what, she’s still a badass and awesome. All I’m saying is, you two should talk, get to know each other.”

Sam was baffled. He didn’t mind Ash saying he never went outside because, well, it was true. But what really took him aback was Ash’s openness. Sam was barely a stranger to him and yet he talked like they were old friends. That and he wanted Sam to _talk_ to his (most likely) childhood friend because they both never talked to people? Sam felt like he should feel honoured.

Ash apparently didn’t mind Sam not saying anything. He dropped the shovel and looked proudly at his work. “We’re gonna need some stones. Coming?” And he already started walking away.

Sam started for a few seconds and then quickly followed. Not like he had anything better to do anyway.

Ash turned out to be a very chill person. He did most of the talking and somehow made Sam feel relaxed. He talked more than he normally would and in return found out a lot of things about Ash. Even why he had that weird haircut.

_“Business at the front, party in the back, man.”_

They got the stones by a nearby river and walked back to the camp. Everybody was there now and they had a mountain of wood with them. They had gone out to collect fire fuel while Sam was in the tent.

They made quick work on the hearth and even dragged three big logs to set them around so they had somewhere to sit. It was practically night when they finished, so they decided to light the fire. Besides, everyone was getting hungry.

In fifteen minutes they were all sitting by a warm fire and baking potatoes and chocolate bananas. Sam was having more fun than he expected. Jess and Charlie sat next to him and talked. He sometimes joined in but was otherwise quiet. But he didn’t feel out of place, he felt comfortable. Whether that was because of his talk with Ash or simply because Charlie was there was anyone’s guess. Not like it mattered.

Sam looked around and noticed that the others looked quite cosy too. Dean and Castiel were (of course) sitting together. Castiel seemed to have some problems with his banana and chocolate, so Dean was helping him. On the other log sat Jo and Ash, who was already eating. Gabriel sat beside them and ate plain chocolate.

“Sam, could you please put this on ember?” Jess asked while she held out her potato wrapped in aluminium foil. “Yeah, sure.” He took it and placed it carefully. Jess smiled and thanked him.

Dean heard that and looked at her curiously. “I didn’t know you didn’t like fire.” Everybody stopped what they were doing (Ash even stopped eating) and looked at Jess. She shrugged. “For some weird reason, I’ve been afraid of fire ever since I can remember. I even asked my parents if I got into some sort of accident when I was a baby, but I didn’t.”

“Maybe in your previous life you died in a ceiling fire by a demon or something,” Dean said nonchalantly. Sam frowned at his brother. “Demon?” “Ceiling fire?” Came from Jo. Dean just shrugged.

All in all, it was a great day, at least better than what Sam imagined. Now came the difficult part. Sleeping in the same tent as Gabriel aka Sam’s soulmate.

As open as Gabriel was, he at least valued Sam’s privacy. They took turns in the tent to change clothes. After that, Sam was very ready to read for another hour or so and pay no attention to Gabriel. He got comfy in his sleeping bag and just started reading when Gabriel spoke.

“I know that it’s like, a sin to interrupt a person when they’re reading, but I’m just wondering; what’re you reading?”

Sam was tempted to just show him the cover and keep not interacting with him, but something told him that that just wasn’t the thing to do.

“How did you know that?” Sam asked. Gabriel lifted an eyebrow. “To not bother a reader I mean.”

“Oh, that. Cas really likes to read and I learned fast that he gets angry when I’m annoying him when he’s trying to read. I figured you were the same. Was I right?”

Sam smiled. “Pretty much, yeah.” He could end the conversation there. He could start reading again. Gabriel probably wouldn’t mind and just go to sleep. He could.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

“I didn’t know Castiel liked books.”

“Yeah, he’s obsessed with them. Ever since I can remember. So what _are_ you reading?”

Sam remembered that he didn’t answer Gabriel’s question and flushed. “Greek’s Mythology.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“It is. But that’s not the only book I brought.”

“That’s nice. Cas likes to bring at least one book wherever he goes.” Sam was surprised by how well Gabriel got over the fact that he liked books. Usually, people started asking him how much he was reading or just thought he was plain weird. Sam respected Gabriel for that.

“When we were younger, Dean always said that books take up too many space in a suitcase. I told him to mind his own business.” Sam chuckled at the memory. Gabriel smiled too.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Gabriel started and Sam looked at him more seriously. “What do you think of our brothers being soulmates?”

Sam was taken aback by the question. Weren’t they talking about books just a second ago?

“I’m happy for Dean. And for Castiel too. They look like they truly belong together.” After a pause, he added. “Well, they are soulmates after all.”

“I’m happy for them too. I don’t really know how to describe it, but Cas looks… more alive when he’s next to Dean. I’m glad they found each other.”

“Me too.”


End file.
